Photo: SOPA / LightRocket images via Gett
First Glastonbury, now this. In worrying news after yesterday’s opening festivities, Japan decided to cancel the 2021 Olympics due to the coronavirus. On Thursday, January 21, the Times reported that the Japanese government “privately completed” the cancellation of the 2021 Olympics, which have already been postponed, due to the increase in COVID-19 cases worldwide. According to the report written by Richard Lloyd Parry, Japan is trying to find a “way to save appearances” from announcing the decision that also “leaves open the possibility of Tokyo being the host at a later date”. Apparently, Japan’s new focus is to halt in 2032, the next available year, to host the games in Tokyo, which were originally scheduled to start on July 24, 2020 and then rescheduled to start on July 23, 2021. “Nobody whether you are the first to say that, but the consensus is that it is very difficult, ”a source told Lloyd Parry. “Personally, I don’t think this is going to happen.”
However, from now on, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would disagree. Earlier that day, the IOC issued a statement stating that the 2021 Olympics would continue as planned this summer. “At the moment, we have no reason to believe that the Tokyo Olympic Games will not start on July 23 at the Tokyo Olympic stadium,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “That’s why there’s no plan B and that’s why we’re totally committed to making these Games safe and successful.” Although Back was firm about holding the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, he potentially suggested reducing the number of spectators, as well as taking other precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. “The priority is security,” Bach told Kyodo News. “When it comes to security, there can be no taboo.”
Publicly, the IOC and Japanese Olympic organizers have tried to assure the public that the 2021 Olympic Games will take place, with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga calling the next Olympic Games “a proof of human victory against the coronavirus”. But senior IOC member Dick Pound raised some doubts about whether the event will really happen, saying, “I can’t be sure why the continuous elephant in the room would be the virus outbreaks.” So, to decide whether we will ever see Simone Biles defy gravity again or whether the coronavirus will steal it from us too.